Even Australians make that mistake! And we have similar distances here!!!

A friend and I drove from Chicago through Ohio, on to Georgia, the Carolinas, Baltimore, Pennsylvania back to Ohio and eventually back to Chicago... 4000 miles IIRC and even though we took a month to do it it was too much driving really.....

I'd second the suggestion to fly to "centres" and "tour out" from there....

My first exposure to this "distance underestimating" came when the crew of a USAF C-141 arrived at NAS NOWRA (on the coast of southern New South Wales) and announced that they didn't need accommodation in the Wardroom as they had booked a hotel..... the Hilton..... in Sydney.

Took a while to convince them that was NOT a "daily commute".... (3 hours drive each way?? Something like that) They showed me a palm sized map of Australia and said.. "It doesn't look far!"

Anyone can fall into that trap!

Just a FYI, this thread originally dates from 2001, so he's had plenty of time to drive from Miami to Los Angeles.

Colour me embarrased... I didn't notice!!

I didn't notice either ... but with that itinerary maybe the OP is still on the road.

Yeah, but what a bummer to start a trip pre-9/11 and get hit with all those restrictions you didn't expect in the middle.